News Releases

Public Meeting for Callahan Mine Superfund Site in Brooksville, ME

(Boston, Mass. – June 26, 2009) – EPA will hold a public informational meeting on Thursday, July 9th, at 7:00 p.m. at 1 Town House Rd, Brooksville ME, in the Brooksville Public Service Building Meeting Room to discuss the Proposed Plan for the Callahan Mine Superfund Site in Brooksville, ME.

The Proposed Plan describes the cleanup activities that are proposed for the Callahan Mine Site. The proposed cleanup action is identified as Alternative CMS2 in the Operable Unit 1 Feasibility Study for the Callahan Mine Site and includes the following: Capping of Tailings Impoundment; Off-Site Disposal of PCB and Petroleum Contaminated Soil; Subaqueous Disposal of Source Area Material (from the Ore Pad, Mine Operations Area, and WRP-3), Residential Use Area Soil, and Sediment in a Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) Cell in the Former Mine Pit. The estimated cost is $23 million. The Proposed Plan also includes a public notice regarding the impact of the cleanup on wetlands and the protectiveness of the PCB cleanup level. In addition, EPA proposes to implement an early Action for Operable Unit 2 which would include land use restrictions to prevent residential use or consumption of groundwater within the former Callahan Mine property portion of the Site. A 30-day formal public comment period will begin on July 10, 2009 and will extend through August 10, 2009.

A copy of the Proposed Plan along with other technical documents related to the Site is available for review at the Brooksville Library, 1 Town House Rd, Brooksville ME and the EPA Records Center at 1 Congress Street in Boston, MA (hours: M - F, 10 am to 5 pm). Copies of the Proposed Plan will be available at both the July 9, 2009 and August 6, 2009 meetings and will also be available on EPA New England’s website: www.epa.gov/ne/superfund/sites/callahan.

Additionally, EPA will be hosting a public hearing on August 6, 2009. At the August 6, 2009 hearing, there will be a brief presentation followed by a public hearing to receive public comment on the Proposed Plan at 7:00p.m. at the same location: 1 Town House Rd, Brooksville ME, in the Brooksville Public Service Building Meeting Room.

EPA and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection encourage you to attend the meetings. For further information about these meetings or the public comment process, call Pam Harting-Barrat of EPA’s Community Affairs office at (617) 918-1318, or toll-free at 1-888-372-7341, ext. 81318.